Term Break – Fifth Stop Queenstown

Our fifth stop was nearly a disaster. When we arrived at our lodging, the receptionist could find no record of our reservation. Luckily, Mark was able to whip out a copy of the email she had sent him that confirmed a fine room at an amazing price. As luck would have it, no fine rooms were available, so the receptionist had no choice but to give us an ultra-super-luxury-elegant apartment, at a now even more amazing price. In the next ten minutes, she reminded us of this at least six times. Boy have we slept well these last three nights!

Queenstown is yet another seemingly impossibly beautiful town located on the banks of the Wakatipu Lake. Only 70 kilometres from Milford Sound as the crow flies (but 300 km by car), the area around Queenstown was formed by the same glacial processes as Milford. Adding to the beauty (although somewhat unnaturally) is the autumn colour dotting the town. Early settlers wanting to make the town seem more like their native homes planted many Northern Hemisphere deciduous trees that are now changing colour.

Queenstown is also the adventure capital/tourist mecca of the South Island. Home of A.J. Hackett Bungy jumping, jet boating, luging, paragliding, and just about anything else you might imagine risking your life over. Much to Ben’s great chagrin, the mild-mannered Kumlers stayed within 25 centimeters of the Earth’s surface. That limited us to luging, the lower deck of the TSS Earnslaw Boat Cruise, and the Walter Peak Farm Excursion (as well as a few forced marches). Fortunately, Ben did manage to hit 60 kmph on the luge.

Amongst all this adventure living, we were able to locate a wool store (smiley face)! While Mark read the classifieds on the park bench outside, the rest of us oohed and ahhed over the gorgeous selection of NZ wools. [Mark on the other hand, when he did venture inside the wool store, was most impressed by the interpretive display that documented over 60 million unwanted possums in a country of only 4 million people.] We did buy a “wee bit” of wool, and now we’re going gangbusters on our knitting.

Our ultra-super-luxury-elegant apartment came equipped with laundry facilities (yea!) and a full kitchen. It’s been nice to eat some “home-cooked” meals and catch up on some much needed clothes washing.